I vividly remember learning about male and female sexual organs while in primary and secondary school. This section of the Biology syllabus was a favourite for many. However, our interest in the subject was not so much what was taught as what was left out of the lesson.
For many of us, this was the first time our teachers came close to acknowledging that such a thing as sex even existed. Yet we left the class disappointed. Knowing how to label genitalia did little to educate me about my sexuality, why sex matters, how to use the very genitalia I was labelling.
The debate around Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) and its incorporation in schools continue to emphasise the side-shows. While the religious prudes think they are preventing a breakout of sexual perversions in school by opposing this proposal, we continue to deal with the consequences of sexual ignorance that is even more costly.
Sex and sexuality are unavoidable topics. They are such an integral part of being human that to ignore them is to side with the perversions we are so afraid of. Children will always be curious.
Churches will continue to only mention sex in the context of sin. And many parents will keep dancing around the topic hoping that it will either never come up or that the children will learn it from experience.
It seems the only teacher still committed to educating our young ones about this topic is the media; the music videos that we ban on our TVs but promote on YouTube; and the TV shows that flaunt toxic masculinity and commoditise female bodies. The young ones are determined to learn it through their own experimentations, from sexting to the internet.
Sexuality education is inevitable. The illegal, unsanctioned classes are having a field day. We are only rooting against ourselves when we make the conversation about whether to have it in the syllabus instead of about what topics to include in the lesson.
Communications lead, NAYA Kenya
